MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Legislature’s finance committee has rejected Gov. Scott Walker’s cuts to Wisconsin’s popular SeniorCare program.
Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal calls for cutting $97 million from the senior citizen prescription drug discount program. It also would require participants to first sign up for the federal Medicare Part D drug program and use SeniorCare as backup coverage.
The finance committee approved a wide-ranging Medicaid plan Thursday that included provisions rejecting Walker’s plan. The move leaves SeniorCare untouched. Rep. John Nygren, the committee’s co-chairman, says Republicans decided to leave the program alone because seniors have grown accustomed to it.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates it will cost an additional $15.6 million to continue the program unchanged.
According to the fiscal bureau, an average of about 85,000 people participate in SeniorCare monthly.
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